Manchester City overtook Arsenal to go top of the Premier League after Jack Grealish and Erling Haaland scored second-half goals to give the champions a 3-1 win in a thrilling contest at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday.
Grealish capped a superb team move with a low deflected finish past the grasp of Aaron Ramsdale in the 72nd minute before Haaland converted 10 minutes later to seal the win and strike a significant blow in a battle between the Premier League’s top two.
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Haaland’s goal equaled the single-season club record of 26 set by Man City legend Sergio Aguero in 2014-15, with the Norway international still having another 15 matches to play to break the mark.
City had opened the scoring through a brilliant finish from Kevin De Bruyne to capitalise on a defensive mishap from Takehiro Tomiyasu in the 24th minute. But Arsenal responded before half-time when Bukayo Saka calmly converted a penalty after Ederson took out Eddie Nketiah in the box.
The visitors had a second-half penalty overturned when VAR correctly ruled Haaland had been offside but City would not be denied to knock Arsenal off top spot for the first time since Nov. 6.
City now lead the standings on goal difference and while Arsenal have a game in hand they also still have to visit the Etihad Stadium in a potentially decisive clash on April 26.
Arsenal’s first home defeat of the season felt like a massive moment in the title race and could well prove to be so, with Mikel Arteta’s side now having picked up only one point from their last three games.
“If you give three goals away the way we did that gives them the game. It’s a shame because we really had them,” Arteta said.
“The margin for error against them is virtually zero. We did a lot of simple things wrong.”
City boss Pep Guardiola Guardiola said his side were “soft” in the first half but praised the way they stepped up.
“They were better than us in the first half but we stepped forward in the second and were still in it and in the end the quality of the players made the difference,” he said.
The Arsenal manager sprung a surprise by dropping right back Ben White in favour of Tomiyasu and the experienced Jorginho came in for the injured Thomas Partey for his first start since arriving from Chelsea.
Arteta’s decision blew up in his face as Japan international Tomiyasu was pressured into a woeful back pass by Grealish and De Bruyne seized on it before dispatching a silky lobbed finish over a stranded Aaron Ramsdale.
Far from knocking the stuffing out of Arsenal, however, the hosts responded by seizing control in midfield as City looked flustered and bizarrely seemed intent on wasting time.
Tomiyasu volleyed a chance over and Saka had another opportunity but delayed his shot too long.
In the 39th minute, Nketiah, who earlier had headed a chance wide, was played through and shot goalwards just before being clattered by City’s keeper Ederson.
Nathan Ake hooked the ball off the line but referee Anthony Taylor pointed to the spot for Ederson’s foul. Saka tucked his penalty past the Brazilian, who avoided a second yellow card that could have had an even greater impact on the game and the title race.
City almost regained the lead in first-half stoppage time when Ruben Dias‘ header was flicked on to the crossbar by Ake.
Arsenal lost momentum after the break and had a let-off when City were awarded a penalty after Gabriel pulled back Haaland in the area but a VAR check ruled the Norwegian was offside.
Nketiah was inches away from giving Arsenal the lead when he slid in to try to connect with a low cross while Haaland was denied by Ramsdale after a mistake by former City defender Oleksandr Zinchenko.
Arsenal kept inviting trouble, though, and when Gabriel got caught on the edge of his penalty area, Haaland’s pass reached Grealish who fired past Ramsdale.
This time there was no response from Arsenal and Haaland sealed victory with a typically ruthless finish eight minutes from time.
Information from Reuters was used in this report.